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Retail sale of cosmetics and toilet articles

Current registrations 2,047division 47: 115,448
Starters, 12 months 35917.5 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 136.4 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 1,95078 employers · latest accounts
Median age 5.9 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 77.1%1,578 of 2,046 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 47750 · financial year 2025 · 483 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
28.6%
division 35.1% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€3,911
division €11,274 · Belgium €16,520
Median equity
€36,999
division €98,568 · Belgium €98,421
Loss-making
35.9%
division 29.5% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
23.8%
division 16.9% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
13.7%
division 12.3% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.37
division 1.47 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
51.0%
financial year 2024, 492 filings · division 46.7% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
11.0%
of 572 companies with annual accounts · division 7.5% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 28.3%31.4%26.9%25.8%25.1%28.6%
Median net result €4,842€6,679€4,122€2,911€3,862€3,911

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
43
2.10% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
48
23.4 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
30-10-2026 Rabah, Hatem
BE 0754.804.312 · sole trader · Fléron
01-09-2026 LIGNAVITA
BE 0898.214.258
18-08-2026 HAIR & BEAUTY FACTORY
BE 0467.240.387
18-08-2026 Mortadella
BE 1009.530.468
18-08-2026 Flair and Beauty
BE 1016.855.354
17-08-2026 CINDY-BEAUTY
BE 0704.786.162
16-07-2026 O.M aesthetic
BE 0778.745.197
26-05-2026 ZEYNEP PRESTIGE
BE 0795.686.644

Every bankruptcy in division 47, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 772 of 2,047 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 393 · 50.9%
  • Wallonia 190 · 24.6%
  • Brussels 172 · 22.3%
  • Abroad 17 · 2.2%
fewer moremax 172

Largest employers

NACE 47750 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 Parfumerie Ici Paris XLVilvoorde 877 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 April Beauty BelgiumAnderlecht 250 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 HOLLAND & BARRETTAntwerp 151 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 ORIS GROUPSint-Gillis (bij-Brussel) 91.0 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 LUSHBrussels 49.3 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 172 companies
  • 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 85
  • 314 Hairdressing and beauty care 43
  • 201 Independent retail 28
  • 116 Chemical industry 27
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 8
  • 311 Large retail businesses 6
  • 313 Pharmacies and pricing offices 5
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 4
Show the 7 others
  • 124 Construction 3
  • 119 Food trade 2
  • 106 Cement industry 1
  • 211 Oil industry and trade 1
  • 302 Hotels and catering 1
  • 330.04 Health institutions and services 1
  • 337 Auxiliary committee for the non-profit sector 1

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

Division 47: Retail trade

Related activities

22 other activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Retail sale of clothing and accessories for women, men, children and babies (general range)47716 6,396 799 71 10,658
Retail sale of pharmaceutical products47730 5,195 148 8 11,475
Other retail sale of new goods47789 4,198 297 17 2,322
Retail sale of flowers, plants, seeds and fertilisers47761 3,347 185 15 2,345
Retail sale of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels, excluding motor fuels47781 3,078 21 19 932
Retail sale of women's outerwear47711 2,168 293 16 1,724
Show all 22 activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Retail sale of watches and jewellery47770 2,004 187 10 1,243
Retail sale of prescription glasses, lenses and sunglasses47742 1,729 60 5 1,747
Retail sale of antiques47791 1,434 132 6 377
Retail sale of pets, pet food and pet supplies47762 1,326 128 8 1,463
Retail sale of souvenirs and religious articles47784 1,094 151 5 318
Retail sale of medical and orthopaedic goods, excluding prescription glasses and lenses47741 1,050 50 9 3,514
Retail sale of footwear47721 1,015 52 8 2,991
Retail sale of second-hand clothing47792 940 153 9 1,453
Retail sale of other second-hand goods, excluding clothing47793 923 175 6 836
Retail trade47715 664 86 1 249
Retail trade47714 506 34 3 882
Retail trade47713 488 47 6 440
Retail trade47712 450 53 6 270
Retail trade47722 403 36 3 431
Retail trade47783 338 30 3 706
Retail trade47782 76 9 0 -

Bankruptcies per year in division 47

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies1,3941,3821,4991,3741,4389317461,0761,1691,2991,294914
Jobs lost2,8933,4682,9132,7132,8924,0882,1122,1254,1563,9333,5112,092

2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 47

11,335 employers
Median
€49,800
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€39,600 to €63,800
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
73 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €50,500 €39,700 to €64,200 8,071
10 to 49 FTE €46,400 €38,700 to €60,900 2,866
50 to 249 FTE €57,600 €45,000 to €72,100 320
250 FTE or more €58,400 €47,500 to €70,900 78

Running bankruptcies in the sector

NACE division 47
Number
2,272
Half have run longer than
20 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
29%
Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 108,562 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 28% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn. After five years, 20% were still open. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 51 months).

This counts companies with this main activity in the register on 6 November 2026. The outcome itself is not measured by sector. The activity of a company that leaves the register after its bankruptcy is too often not kept to compare closed cases fairly.

Outcome by court and division

177 of the 60,397 companies in NACE division 47 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Netherlands (54), France (51) and Germany (15). Together they employ 30,846 of the division's 222,349 FTE: 14%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €389.9m awarded 9,037 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Erkenning en subsidiëring als maatwerkafdeling
  • Federal transfers 11.7m amount as published 30 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Ondersteuning aan de bijdrage van de organisaties van de civiele maatschappij en institutionele actoren in de realisatie van de doelen van de gemeenschappelijke strategische kaders (cf. art. 2.14.6 en 2.14.10 van de wetsbepalingen)
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €31.7m paid 108 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Subventions aux organisations de jeunesse (décret du 20 juin 1980 et du 26 mars 2009)
  • EU budget €76.1m attributed share 24 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Information and communication technology
  • EU research €8.6m EU contribution 14 recipients · 2008 to 2026 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Retail sale of cosmetics and toilet articles

Balance sheet and result. 23.8% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. The median net result of €3,911 is below Belgium's €16,520. Solvency of 28.6% is below Belgium's 46.1%.

Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 1.0% is above Belgium's 0.2%.

Inflow and structure. In 12 months, 17.5 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is more than in 97% of the 87 NACE divisions. Brussels holds 22.8% of the seats, against 12.5% in Belgium. 62.3% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium.

Staff and filing. 51.0% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 1,418 of the 1,950 FTE: 72.8%.

Direction. The median net result fell from €4,842 in financial year 2020 to €3,911 in financial year 2025.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 06-11-2026 05:30.

Method and sources

Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 47750 exists.

The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,276,581 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 698,987 registrations publish no activity.

Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.